Ben 10,000 Returns
by Ashton Knight
Summary: After five years away from his home planet, Ben Tennyson returns as Ben 10,000 to be faced with a new generation of heroes and an impending invasion. As Magistratus of the Plumbers, he will do whatever it takes to protect both the planet and the universe. Ben/Eunice.


"Bring them back." A young man with dried tear tracks down his face said in a blank expanse of space to two green floating heads, one with a kindly expression on its face and the other with a more stern one.

"Ah, Ben. It's good to see you again." Serena said kindly.

"No time for that!" Bellicus cut in. "Motion to revisit the extinction of the dinosaurs?" Bellicus asked.

"Being them back." Ben said again, his voice barely more than a whisper.

"We have a second!" Bellicus said in what could be described as an ecstatic voice, at least for him that is.

"BRING THEM BACK!" Ben was shouting now, glaring up at the two heads with fire in his eyes. Any other person in the universe would have taken a step back but being omnipotent tended to wipe away any fears that you had. "MY FAMILY! I WANT THEM BACK!"

Serena gave him a sad smile. "Ben, while what happened to your family was sad and tragic, we have billions of other issues that we have to visit, and that's just this planet alone. You need to wait your turn; in the meantime, let's revisit all previous unresolved issues."

Ben thought about arguing his case but knew it would be futile. Serena and Bellicus rarely ever agreed with him and that was only when the entire universe was at stake.

"Fine." Ben replied after taking a few moments of thought.

"Well that's too – Wait, what?" Bellicus questioned.

Ben looked at them both, passion burning in his eyes. "I said fine. Let's revisit all previous unresolved issues. I don't care if there's billions or even trillions." He said to them and this time the look in his eyes was enough to make both Serena and Bellicus feel...something. "I will do whatever it takes to get my family back."

Bellicus looked surprised for a moment before carrying on. "Do we have a motion to revisit argument number 80,000,003, the extinction of the dinosaurs?"

Serena looked troubled. "Bellicus..."

Bellicus grumbled. "Yeah, yeah. Might as well start with argument number one. Motion to-"

"No Bellicus." Serena said. "You and I both know that even if we did go through all of our unresolved arguments, we'd both still say no to Ben's request."

"What!" Ben cried out. "Why?"

Serena turned to Ben. "Ben, while we do have the power to bring your family back, it's just not fair to everyone else who doesn't have access to Alien X. There needs to be a balance in the world."

"Fair?" Ben asked in disbelief. "Balance? Where's the fairness in my family dying. Where's the balance when there's ten less people in this world. If you can be bothered to save the entire universe, why can't you save my family."

"That was the universe, not one family." Bellicus muttered. "We didn't even really want to save it."

Ben glared up at them hatefully.

"Then know this." He said. "Even if there's no other choice, even if all of reality is at stake, I will never use Alien X again. I will never help you with any of your arguments and you two can spend the rest of eternity bickering among yourselves."

Bellicus looked more than a little angry and Serena was openly crying. "Are you forgetting that you're stuck here with us?" He asked snidely.

"Bellicus..." Serena sobbed. "Just let him go."

Bellicus gave one look at Serena then a hateful glare at Ben before speaking. "Motion to transform from Alien X back to Ben?" He asked.

"Seconded." Serena managed to get out in between sobs.

"Motion carried." Bellicus said, not even waiting for Ben to make a comment.

* * *

 **Five Years Later**

A young blonde girl knocked on the large green door that lead to the planet's power core before walking in. She wore a white jumpsuit of sorts, painted with a thick black line down the middle in a design reminiscent to that of a certain 10 year old Omnitrix wielder.

The room itself was mostly dark green in colour and there was a large cylindrical structure in the middle of the room in the shape of an hour glass.

"Ben?" The girl asked, looking around for someone. "Are you here?"

"Over here, Eunice." A voice replied from the main computer terminal. It was a short grey alien with a green dial on his back. He was typing in a few final pieces of code into the mainframe which controlled the core.

"Are the upgrades in place?"

"Upgrade was done yesterday." The Galvan said as he jumped off of the control panel.

Eunice's eyes squinted in confusion. "Yesterday? But I thought only a Galvan would be capable of doing the final upgrades to the core?" She asked.

The Galvan just shook his head as he disappeared in a green flash of light. Once the light had died down, a tall, well built man appeared in his place. He sported a trimmed brown beard to match his slightly spiky hair. There was a white hourglass on his t-shirt that was surrounded by grey. His emerald green eyes twinkled in mirth.

"Get it? Upgrade." He chuckled a bit and that was when Eunice remembered that he'd been using the alien _called_ Upgrade yesterday for some repairs. She gave out a groan at the lame attempt of a joke which the Galvan turned human ignored. "Really Ben?"

"No one appreciates my jokes." Ben said in mock depression. "Rook doesn't even..." That's when Ben trailed off and the depression stopped being real.

A heavy silence descended upon the room which Eunice didn't try to break. It had been five years since _The Incident_ and it was still hard to believe what had happened.

"Anyway, what did you need?" Ben asked, putting on his famed Green Jacket with the number 10 on. "I need to head over to Shar's Promotion Party."

"Yeah, about that..." Eunice sounded slightly nervous, something which Ben picked up on straight away. "The party's at Plumber Headquarters now."

Ben raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that where it's supposed to be?"

"Not the Intergalactic one." Eunice replied. "The Earth One."

Ben stilled. "Why?" His voice had gone hard, little more than a growl and it took all of Eunice's willpower not to flinch back despite knowing that the tone wasn't directed at her.

"There's been some activity on Mars and considering the incident with the Martians and the Imperium they figured it was best to stay on Earth in case anything happened." Eunice explained.

Ben was torn. On one hand, it had been five years since he'd been on his home planet and he was in no rush to get back there anytime soon. On the other hand, it was Shar's celebration party for becoming Magister of Earth and Ben would be doing his old partner a disservice if he failed to attend such a momentous occasion in his sister's life. He could always order the party to be held at the Intergalactic Headquarters but as Magistratus he had a duty to ensure the safety of every planet and ignoring what seemed to be suspicious activity on Mars would be a dereliction of his duty.

Ben just nodded, his expression taking on a haunted look.

The look quickly faded however and was replaced by his trademark grin though it was now more fake than genuine. "Well, might as well get packing. Who knows, I might just snag myself some Kryptonian DNA for the Omnitrix." Ben said, holding up his watch which was now in it's fifth incarnation.

Eunice put on a smile as well, more to support Ben then anything else. "The Rust Bucket is ready and waiting. I just need to finish up a few things then I'll join you." She hadn't actually met Rook Shar yet but would be there more for supporting Ben than anything else.

Be scratched his head sheepishly. "Oh yeah, about that. I just finished installing the Power Core for the planet but I still need you to finish up some other stuff. Omniworld is still only a few years old and can't go without a leader even for a day."

Omniworld was the name of the planet that they were on. When Ben had come across it, it was nothing more than a barren husk, with no resources at all. It was however the oldest planet in existence and was located at what could be described as the centre of the universe. A crazy idea had started to form in Ben's mind and he had started the long, arduous process of making it habitable. He'd used Ultimate versions of his aliens to assist him in this: Water Hazard to create water for the planet, Wildvine and Swampfire to grow the plants and trees, Lodestar to bring in the metals, Echo Echo and other aliens for the manual labour and Grey Matter and Upgrade for the technological aspects. The entire planet could have been ready and functioning in a matter of seconds with Alien X but after _The Incident_ Ben had vowed to never use him again.

Omniworld was now a thriving planet, the only one in existence to not have a single dominating species or even a native species. Crime was extremely low, due in most part to the fact that the planet's leader was none other than Ben 10,000 himself.

Eunice looked more than a little upset at not being able to accompany Ben though the man's attention was luckily on a monitor instead and by the time he turned around her smile was back in place. "Okay Ben. I'll make sure everything goes smoothly."

Ben nodded and headed out the door. "See you tomorrow."

Eunice nodded. "Good luck and say hi to Rook Shar for me."

* * *

"There's the new Magister!" Ben's booming voice called as he walked through the doors. Shar was talking to Molly, the leader of Alpha squad who, unlike most plumbers, was suited in red armour compared to the traditional white.

The two came over to him. "Ben, you made it!" Shar gave him a hug, something which she would have been aghast at doing just a few years ago.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world, Shar." Ben replied. He turned to the leader of Alpha Squad. "Molly, good to see you."

"You too, Magistratus." Molly replied. "Did you get my report on the situation on Mars."

Ben nodded. "Yes, it's more than a little suspicious though there's no use in jumping the gun just yet."

"I've sent a team up there to investigate, they should be back in a few hours. In fact, I need to get on the comms right now and see what they've found out so far." Molly headed off towards the direction of the Communications Centre.

"So, how's the new job treating you Shar?" Ben asked.

At this, Shar had to give a sad smile. Ordinarily, on her planet it would be seen as extremely improper and rude to refer to a person as anything other than their family name. With Ben, the opposite was true. Despite sharing it, the name "Rook" only belonged to one person in the hero's eyes and that person would most likely have become Magister of Earth today if not for his untimely demise.

"Quite well, Ben. I am however extremely wary of the situation on Mars. After the incident with the Imperium..." She trailed off, not needing to explain.

"Come on." Ben said jovially. "It's probably nothing." At that moment a klaxon sounded across the base and red lights flashed everywhere.

" _Attention all Plumbers, Earth is under attack by the Imperium; This is a Code Blue. This is not a drill. Follow plan C-5683. I repeat, this is not a drill._ " Molly's voice echoed throughout the base and presumably across all the other bases on Earth that the Plumber's possessed.

"I really need to learn to keep my mouth shut." Ben grumbled. Then, in a louder voice directed at the crowd he spoke. "Okay people, you heard the woman, follow plan C-5683. Start mounting a counter defence and get me a location on the mother ship." He turned to Shar.

"Ready for your first day on the job, Magister Shar?" Ben asked, a grin on his face. While he wouldn't say that he loved fighting (After all, the Plumbers worked towards peace), he'd always been a warrior at heart and was more or less addicted to the adrenaline that he got whenever he went into battle.

"I won't let you down, sir." Magister Shar replied before heading towards the Armoury.

"Magistratus," A voice said from below him. Ben turned down to look at what appeared to be a large mole in a Plumber's uniform.

"Jerry!" Ben greeted. "It's been a while. How've you been?"

"Quite well, Magistratus, thank you for asking. While we have not yet been able to locate the mother ship, there is a larger than average contingent of Reach ships pursuing a group of Superheroes, among them Superman, Batman, Flash and a Green Lantern. Our scans have also detected what appears to be a Martian among them. Normally, a team would be sent but since you're here..."

Ben had to agree that while it did make sense for a hero like himself to meet with the current heroes of Earth, he didn't really know how to interact with them. While he had been a hero (Some would argue that he still was), he'd more or less been a government sanctioned one, answerable to the Plumbers. The current heroes of the present were only answerable to themselves and Ben himself didn't know how he felt about that.

"Okay, send the coordinates to the Omnitrix. I'll meet them there." He pressed a few buttons on the Omnitrix and a hologram came up. "It's Hero Time!"

* * *

As Astrodactyl, Ben followed the coordinates Jerry gave him to an area with more than a few mountains There, he spotted what looked like Superman and Batman in his jet (Both of which he recognised from reports) engaging in fighting some Reach ships. He decided to hold back for now, especially after he saw the Green Lantern step in to help. While the Lantern Corps and the Plumbers weren't exactly enemies, relationships between the two were more than a little frosty.

Soon, Hawkgirl joined the fray, defending Green Lantern while he himself was defending Batman and the Martian. Then, a new player came on the field, a woman dressed in something that Gwen would be shocked and appalled to see and Kevin and himself would be drooling at.

Astrodactyl blinked for a second. Even after five years he still sometimes forgot that they were no longer around.

Once the battle was done, Astrodactyl observed Flash run to Batman at high speeds, carrying the wing of the Bat Jet. A few introductions were made by the heroes but they'd seemed to have missed one of the Reach infantry which must have jumped off the ship at some point. It had grabbed onto the edge of the cliff and climbed itself up and raised it's gun at the group and was about to shoot when Ben decided that that was the moment to make his dramatic entrance.

He flew to the ground just in front of the group, faced the lone reach soldier and fired an energy beam from his mouth. He turned to face the group and was met with nothing but a few raised eyebrows. Considering this motley group of people, they probably came across things just as weird (If not weirder) than a bird that could shoot energy from it's mouth.

"Someone else you summoned J'onn?" Hawkgirl asked.

"No." The Martian replied. "I did not contact him but he appears to be an ally. What is your name?"

"In this form, you can call me Astrodactyl but normally I'm," At this point, he touched the Omnitrix dial on his left shoulder, turning himself back to human form. "Ben 10,000."

He always got a kick out of announcing himself, not only because of the fact that he'd long since passed the 10,000 aliens mark but he always liked the looks awe he got. Don't get him wrong, it had been a while since he'd let the fame get to his head but he still couldn't let go of that little part of himself that appreciated those looks that he got.

Sadly, those looks were mostly absent with his current company. Some of them didn't seem to recognise him though in hindsight that did make some sense. If J'onn was a survivor of the original Imperium attack then he wouldn't have been around to have known about Ben. Diana was from an island that was removed from the rest of the world. Green Lantern was a Lantern so that was reason enough. Only Flash seemed to recognise him judging by the shocked look in his eyes though Ben didn't miss the narrowing of Batman's eyes.

"Oh great." Green Lantern spoke. "Another rookie."

Ben managed to hold in his annoyance at that comment.

"I've been saving the universe long before Hal Jordan even looked at that ring he wears on his finger now." Ben replied, smirking when he saw John Stewart flinch back slightly. While John's identity was no secret to the world, Hal's still was and to hear someone who looked barely in his twenties proclaim something like that was more than a little disconcerting.

"Ben 10,000?" Batman asked. "Formerly Ben 10?"

"Who?" Superman asked, confused.

"You guys never did any research before becoming a superhero, did you?" Ben asked, directing the question at Green Lantern and Superman. "Before any of you took up the title, I was the first one. The world's first superhero. It was me who prepared this planet for the wider universe, it was me who defended Earth against invasion after invasion, it was me who looked Vilgax the Conqueror in the eye and walked way to tell the tale. It was me who defeated Diagon, a self proclaimed God. And it was me who witnessed the dawn of the universe and recreated it after it had been destroyed. So the next time you decide to open your mouth, remember who you're talking to."

A silence echoed around the clearing. While the context of some of what was said wasn't clear, it was clear that the man in front of them had accomplished quite a bit in his lifetime.

"So, J'onn J'onzz, you came from Mars to warn us?" Diana asked, breaking the silence.

J'onn took this time to tell his story, of how his home world came under attack and the war that followed. Hearing about how he stood guard over the ruins of his planet, Ben couldn't help but respect the Martian in front of him. He was the last of his race but still fought on and even went as far as protecting another race from the same fate as his own.

"I am however curious about your abilities. I've never seen a resident of Terradino transform into a Human before." J'onn said, probably more in an effort to push away the memories of his loss than curiosity about Ben.

Ben just shrugged. There was no use in hiding anything, the entire universe already knew his identity and the source of his powers. "It's this watch here." Ben said, holding up the Omnitrix. "It lets me transform into any other race that I've acquired DNA for. It was created by a Galvan by the name of Azmuth who is arguably the smartest being in the universe. It came to Earth over a decade ago.

"Who was the original wielder of the device?" Wonder Woman asked.

At this, Ben had to smirk. It made sense of course for them to assume that someone else had wielded the Omnitrix first, after all, he was ten at the time. No hero had ever started that young except Ben himself.

"I was."

"What?" Green Lantern exclaimed. "You must have been 11 at most at the time."

"10 actually." Green Lantern nearly choked at that and would have said more if Ben's Omnitrix hadn't started to beep.

" _This is Magister Shar, we have located the coordinates of the mothership. They've been sent to your Omnitrix. Good Luck Ben._ " Shar's voice came though the Omnitrix.

"You're a Plumber? The Magistratus at that?" Green Lantern asked, shocked.

"What?" Flash asked. "I don't follow. What do toilets have to do with this?"

Green Lantern shook his head in annoyance but it was Hawkgirl who explained. "The Plumbers are an intergalactic law-enforcement organization that makes use of many high-tech gadgets and weapons to protect the planets in the universe from various alien threats and attacks. The leader of the organisation is the Magistratus."

Green Lantern spoke up. "He's essentially on the same level as the Guardians of Oa!" John exclaimed.

"Funny." Ben commented. "Last time I checked, it was the Guardians who answered to the Plumbers." It was true: Long ago the Green Lantern project was one that was created by the Plumbers many millenia ago. The project was put into the hands of what was now known as the Guardians of Oa. After a few hundred years however, the Guardians started to distance themselves until they were eventually seen as a completely different organisation.

"We don't have time to fight over jurisdiction." Batman cut in. "We'll join you at the mothership."

Ben shook his head. "You need to take down the factories, besides, I've already got a team in place."

Batman refused to back down. "Half of us can go with you to the mothership and the other half can go to the factories."

Ben refused to be cowed by a man dressed as a bat, no matter how much fear the man exuded. "Considering that half of you are civllians, that's still a problem."

"A civilian!" Wonder Woman spoke up, indignant. "I was raised as a warrior from birth."

Ben sighed. He didn't actually have an issue with them being civillains, they probably didn't count as civllians anyway. But he felt that he was more than enough to handle the Imperium and these guys would just be getting in the way.

"Considering what I've heard about Themyscriya, I don't doubt that. What I do doubt is that you've seen any real combat – life or death. Superman: you, Batman and Flash aren't sanctioned by any government on the planet and therefore I don't recognise your authority. While the Maritan here was a soldier on Mars, I refuse to take someone who is still recovering from the loss he suffered into combat." Ben tried to ignore the small voice in his head that was calling him a hypocrite.

"Commander Hol, you have no authority on Earth as yours is a Planetary title, not an Intergalactic one. And as for you Lantern," He turned to look at John, ignoring the looks of anger and irritation on everyone's faces. "Yours is an Intergalactic title, you aren't a civillian and since the Guardians never officially broke ties with the Plumbers you are technically sanctioned by the governments of Earth. I could, in all fairness, take you with me to the mothership."

"Then what's the problem" John gritted out. He had no intention of going alone with a potential hostile, no matter who he claimed to be.

"I don't like you." He said, a grin on his face. He held up his watch. "Besides, I'm the one with the coordiantes." He tapped a few buttons on the Omnitrix before slamming it down. A flash of Emerald Light blinded all the heroes and when it died down stood what looked like a velociraptor in Ben's place.

" **XLR8!** " The being said, before speeding off.

The gathered heroes just stared at each other in disbelief.

"No fair." Flash said, breaking the silence. "The speed thing is my schtik."

As XLR8 speeded off, he smirked when he heard the Omnitrix speak. " _Kryptonian DNA Unlocked. Martian DNA Unlocked. Thangarian DNA Unlocked._ "

* * *

 **AN: While the concept of the Justice League being in a different universe is a good one, it's more than a little old. Therefore, in this, Ben is actually 22 and has been off the planet for a good five years. Here are the reaons why some of the heroes have heard of him and some haven't.**

 **During the events of AF, UA and Omniverse, Clark was training to become Superman in the Fortress of Solitude. Therefore, he wasn't around for when Ben became famous.**

 **Diana grew up on an island removed from the world.**

 **During the events of AF, UA and Omniverse, Bruce was travelling the world to become Batman, being trained by the League of Shadows etc. The only reason he's heard of Ben is because he's the kind fo person who'd find out anything he can about everyone.**

 **Hawkgirl's planet has been involved in a war for the last few years and didn't have time to pay attention to rumours of a teenage boy being the saviour of the universe.**

 **J'onn was on Mars by himself with no communications.**

 **Green Lantern answers to the Guardians who keep information about the Plumbers to the minimum.**

 **Flash was the only one who was around when Ben was revealed to the world, hence why he's the only one who recognises him (Other than Batman).**

 **Just so you know, all the Justice Legaue are a good deal older than Ben but they all started their Hero careers after Ben left the planet. Also, as mentioned in the summary, the pairing is Ben/Eunice (No Harems or anything like that) but that is not the main focus of the story.  
**

 **As some of you may have noticed, this Ben is halfway to becoming the Ben 10,000 seen in the original Ben 10 series. The reason he's being so short with the Heroes will be revealed next chapter.**


End file.
